Miami Vice ***
Cast: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Luis Tosar, Naomie Harris, John Ortiz, Barry Shabaka Henley, Ciaran Hinds
Director: Michael Mann
Running Length: 2:10
MPAA Classification: R

A sting gone bad, resulting in many deaths leads to Miami cops Sonny Crockett (Farrell) and Rico Tubbs (Foxx) going undercover to find the leak in the FBI. Under the guise of transportation experts, they meet up with drug smuggler Jose Yero (Ortiz) and his associate Isabella (Li). Crockett and Tubbs want to take over as Yero’s distributors, handling all their shipments to the United States. Yero is suspicious, but takes them on, with Isabella as the go-between.

“Miami Vice” is a movie that probably did not need to be made, but unlike other TV shows that have been made into movies, “Miami Vice” has a quality director that was involved with the original material as a producer. That is what brings the film to the next level. Mann has taken the idea from the TV show and transformed it into a grittier, more realistic version of itself. Indeed, aside from the character names, there is little similarities to the TV show. Farrell and Foxx are good as Crockett and Tubbs, two big sets of shoes to fill. The story is tight and at times very violent. The look is dark, and that suits the film just fine – atmosphere is almost a character itself. I could even see this film spawning a sequel or two. “Miami Vice” is not for everyone, but it is an above average cop film that is worth checking out.